Method and system for facilitating telecommunications service provisioning and service assurance

Abstract

An automated system coordinates, controls and polices installation of customer premise equipment (CPE) for telecommunications services and provides continuing service assurance. The system verifies equipment availability on service request, schedules a qualified technician to install the CPE, and assigns distribution equipment resources to the CPE. The system notifies the technician of the installation date. The equipment resources are auto-assigned to the CPE to facilitate installation procedures. The system also auto-detects installation of the CPE and auto-enables service when the CPE is installed. Customer record creation and maintenance is automatic, and installation or operation of unauthorized equipment is inhibited. Post-installation monitoring and automatic scheduling of repair for system or equipment faults ensures continuing service assurance. The advantage is reduced service delivery time, reduced operations costs and increased customer satisfaction.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09 / 874,535, filed Jun. 5, 2001 U.S. Pat. No. 6,735,293 which issued on May 11, 2004, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.MICROFICHE APPENDIX[0002]Not Applicable.TECHNICAL FIELD[0003]The present invention relates to telecommunications service provisioning and service assurance and, in particular, to a method and system for facilitating the provisioning of telecommunications services and for monitoring provisional equipment to facilitate continuous service assurance.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0004]Telephone companies around the world are realizing that it is possible to include existing twisted-pair loops in their next generation broadband access networks. Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC), which is well suited to analog and digital broadcast, is proving to be less than ideal for carrying voice telephony, interactive video and high-speed data communications at the...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0011]The SPA also facilitates telecommunications service assurance after service provisioning. The SPA receives fault alarm messages from service provider network element management systems and examines the alarm messages to isolate alarms that require attention. The SPA attempts to resolve alarms using automated remote control functionality. If an alarm cannot be automatically resolved, the SPA automatically schedules a technician with an appropriate skill level to resolve the malfunction. A work order is created and the work order is electronically dispatched to the technician. The level of the alarm dictates the urgency with which the technician is scheduled. The SPA also accepts trouble reports from customers who report service delivery malfunctions by telephone, for example. The SPA issues work orders and tracks completion of customer-reported malfunctions in the same way as any other work order is tracked to completion.

[0012]The SPA therefore provides a method and system that significantly facilitates telecommunications service provisioning and service assurance. Service installation times are reduced, fraud is controlled, inventories are tracked and the status of service delivery equipment is continually tracked to ensure that equipment failures are rapidly corrected to increase customer satisfaction.

Problems solved by technology

Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC), which is well suited to analog and digital broadcast, is proving to be less than ideal for carrying voice telephony, interactive video and high-speed data communications at the same time.

Fiber To The Home (FTTH) is still prohibitively expensive in a marketplace that is driven by competition rather than cost.

As is well understood, the delivery of such services requires complex interworking of different service provider networks.

Converged services are therefore complicated to provision and provisioning can contribute significantly to start-up costs.

While this invention has merit, it does not address service provisioning and service assurance.

The problems associated with the provisioning of telecommunications services remain, as do the problems associated with telecommunications service assurance.

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